


Iron Walls Strange Magic

by one_big_dreamer



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Child Abuse, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Mutual Pining, Physical Abuse, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-08 13:01:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16429874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/one_big_dreamer/pseuds/one_big_dreamer
Summary: Tony is a Major engineering with a heartproblem and trust issues and Stephen is a Major medicine with a motoric problem and sometimes a bit to big of an ego.Neither like eachother really much, but that changes quick enough...





	1. An unlikely pair

**Author's Note:**

> Soo... this is the first chapter of Iron Walls Strange Magic. Never done something like this before so I hope y'all like it!

With a thud Tony's backpack landed on the floor of his dorm. He was tired and his heart had been playing up today which had resulted in him having to skip two classes. He grunted, causing his rapid heartbeat to go up even further.

He had gotten assigned a bunch of homework, but being too tired to convince himself to do it, He collapsed down onto the bed, buried his face in the pillows and let out a long groan. Why did he have to cope with this? His constant, high heartbeat made his body too fragile to do anything even remotely strenuous. He was always out of breath and that made it dangerous for him to do any exercise at all. The only thing he knew he could do that was safe for him was Yoga. And even that was too much sometimes.

It had been his third episode in a month and he wished he could either cure it or die. He didn't want to deal with it anymore. He was tired of having to take countless pills, of sitting out of gym classes, of having to be treated like a fragile glass sculpture that would break and fracture with the slightest pressure. He just wanted to live a normal life, Be an engineer and not have to worry about his heart. Sadly enough, he knew that would never happen.

After a few minutes of grumbling about his existence, he dragged himself from his bed and walked over to one of the small cabinets perched on the wall and grabbed the box that contained his medicine. Those small pills were practically the only things that kept him alive these days besides his study. 

With a sigh he looked at the plastic the pills were wrapped in, counting how many he had left and felt a pang of guilt that resonated deep within his aching heart.

A year ago he wouldn't even had worried about how many were left.

It had all began after he had gone to college, wanting to follow his dreams. Despite that his father usually tried to crush them, but that had only resulted into him wanting to follow them even more. It was never said actually out loud, but it were the little things his father did. Letting parts of his research disappear, notes that were suddenly gone, being talked down every now and then, etc.  
And the abusive nature of his father was basically the reason why he hid for three years that he was gay.

But at the beginning of this year he had finally mustered up the courage to come out to both of his parents. The reaction from his mother had, as expected, been very loving and accepting, but his father's? Exactly the opposite. Not that he had expected anything else from his father. His face had gone red from anger and if looks could kill, Tony would've been dead. He had started to cuss him out. Said horrid things about him being gay and how he and all the other gay people should die. His mother had tried to calm him down, but when she did, he only got more aggressive and hit her. He shouted at her for being supportive of his sexuality and then he had hit her again, in pure anger.

Tony couldn't believe what he had seen happening before his eyes and his already fast heartbeat had gone up to a speed that he thought that he was gonna pass out. He couldn't get out a single word to defend his mother. Then his father had hit him as well without asking questions, his mother to much in pain to do anything about the situation, he had beaten Tony up, badly and it had been a miracle that he had survived. Since then he avoided the house as much as possible. He only had contact with his mother, behind the back of his father, who had insisted that she would pay his medicine and she had gotten him so far that she paid for a part of his study as well.

He pressed the pills out of their package and downed them with a gulp of water from an old, plastic bottle. Looking at it, he realized that he really needed to buy new ones. He already used this one for a month and he recognized the signs that it was actually time to get a new one, but it was the last one out of the package and he didn't have new ones. He had barely money, but he knew that his paycheck would come in soon so he could buy some groceries and new water bottles. He worked in a garage where he fixed most of the cars that came in there, but if he were honest, it wasn't his dreamjob, but he couldn't deny that it was pleasant that the owner let him have an old barrel that he originally planned on selling, but when he had seen how in love Tony was with it, he had given it to him.

Looking at the clock on his nightstand, he realized how tired he really was, his eyes feeling heavy, let out a yawn and decided that he would make his homework the next day.

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It was his alarm in combination with the morning sun that woke him up. He wanted to snooze, feeling too tired to go to his classes, but he knew that he would never get up if he did.  
He growled deep in his throat and slowly got up from the mattress so his heart wouldn't beat too fast already and stood beside his bed for a few seconds, thinking about what he should do.

First medicine, then maybe breakfast he thought.

With slow steps he got to the place where he kept the pills and cursed under his breath we he let the package slip from his hand.

After he had taken his medicine, he took his journal and checked if he had any classes for that day.

He had three. Physics, Mechanics and Medical and Technological History.

Friday was never his lucky day. He better had not to work together with Stephen.

Not that Tony had anything against him but Stephen was the kind that pissed Tony off by just seeing them. He didn't know why, he just knew that Stephen did. Although he had never really spoken with the boy and thus could not know how Stephen really was, he looked like some kind of bad boy. Always hanging out with the girls and he had a cocky and arrogant attitude.  
Tony wasn't the biggest fan of him, and he didn't really know for sure but he bet that Stephen smoked too. Not that he had ever seen him smoke, but he looked like the type for it. It was ironic to think that though. Stephen was a Major in medicine. He knew what the dangers and consequenses were of smoking.

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The halls were filled with students by the time Tony walked to the classroom and when he walked in, he immediately spotted Stephen, being determined to stay away from him he choose the seat that was the furthest away from him. Stephen was wearing a leather jacket, but Tony couldn't tell if it was fauxleather or not, but, he taught by himself, Stephen was definitely not the kind of guy who would wear faux leather. Of course he wore leather jackets too but it was more because they smelled nice in combination with his cologne and the fact that the were warm than for any other reason. The smell had always calmed him down when he was stressed, and it helped that he always had some sort of familiarity around him, something that made him feel safe.

The silent chatter that was going on, died quickly when the teacher entered the classroom and they began their lecture.

After they had explained the topic they would have almost definitely a test about, the teacher announced something else.

"For the rest of this semester, you will be paired up for different science projects. Don't look at your friends. I already made the pairs and I can tell you it is not someone you regularly work with."

Tony was immediately interested. Being paired up with someone could be very interesting. He secretly hoped that he would be paired up with Jane Foster. She was smart and witty and like Tony, she had a good sense of sarcasm.

The teacher began to read the names and he was sad that she was paired up with Pepper Potts. The list got on and soon enough only he, Thor, Stephen and Bruce were left.

"Stephen Strange and Tony Stark will be working together and Thor Odinson will be working together with Bruce Banner.

Tony's heart sank in his shoes. Why? Why did he have to work together with, hím? He looked over to where Stephen was seated, who looked just as confused. They had never been best friends or something. They even avoided each other as much as possible or better, Tony did, he didn't know if Stephen avoided him too. But he assumed Stephen did avoid him too.

The bell rang and everyone left their seats, leaving the room for a break or the next lecture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first chapter! If you have an Idea of where the story should go, please leave me a comment and I will add it to my list of idea's! ❤


	2. Messy heads and a lot of homework

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stephen helps Tony with his homework

Confusement had filled Tony's head. Why was he paired up with Stephen? The ‘bad boy’ who somehow always got his homework done, despite his arrogant and cocky attitude was paired up with the guy who did everything to get out alive of college. Stephen was rich. Tony wasn't. Well, he had once been before he got kicked out. But that was only a year after he went into college. Before he had come out as gay.

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It had never occured to Stephen that he might have had a crush on the boy on the other side of the classroom, but as soon as he heard that he and Tony were paired up, he started to doubt that and it confused him. The familiar butterflies he had felt by several other people flew through his stomach. How? How did he end up having a crush on the practicular boy that always seemed to avoid him as much as possible?

Tony wasn't really the type of guy he imagined himself with but somehow his subconscious had started to fall for the boy on the other side of the classroom.

He shook his head, trying to get the image of his classmate out of his head. He had Medical Care in a few minutes and the combination of his trembling hands and the image of Tony in his head seemed a very bad combination, but the boy still lingered in the back of his mind when he entered the classroom.

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When the day was over, both of the boys were exhausted. Tony had a hard time keeping his heart under control when he had Mechanics.   
A piece of tech wouldn't listen and had suddenly made short.

Sparks had flown out of the device and he had stepped backwards in surprise, his heart racing at a dangerous speed, while Stephen had problems with his hands. He had to perform a surgery on a very real looking and human feeling doll, but his hands shook too much to do it.  
Maybe it was because of the fact that Tony was still running through his mind or the fact that he stressed to much on wanting to give a good performance.

He figured it was because of both.

Tony, however, couldn't figure out what he had done wrong and why. He had followed exactly the steps his teacher had said he had to follow. Not realizing the image of a smiling Stephen had constantly clouded his mind, causing him to be distracted long enough not to see why the tech had made short.

Bruce walked over to him to ask for something but when he saw the expression on Tony's face, he became worried that the heart of his friend would play up. He was one of the very few people who knew about Tony's heart problems and he looked if his friend was alright.

"Tony, are you okay?"

Tony looked up to see Bruce, looking between his friend and his project before he answered: "I am fine, just a few pieces of tech that wouldn't listen." His voice slightly irritated.

Bruce had some suspicions that he wasn't. Tony was never the one to express his feelings and problems and tended to push them away until they were so worse he couldn't hide them anymore. He sounded frustrated. Not his normal reaction in a situation like this.

"Are you sure?" Bruce fiddled with a little cable, a worried expression on his face

"Bruce, I am fine. Just a little surprised."

The boy nodded. "By the way, do you have a screwdriver for me?"

"Yeah, here you go," Tony said and gave him the screwdriver. "How is it between you and Point Break?"

Bruce rolled his eyes at hearing Thor's nickname but smiled nonetheless. "We're good."

Tony tilted his head and squinted a little. "More than 'good' I think. The way you two look at each other is killing us all."

"Whatever. Success on your project."

"Thanks."

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Stephen could pull his hair out of his head. The surgery had gone wrong and he blamed Tony for it, although he knew that it wasn't fair to do that. He hadn’t been there and even then he couldn’t have done anything.

His hands had seemed to be out of control and had been shaking even more than they usually did.

His mood was bad and he didn't even look forward to his next class, which was a slight indication of how bad it was.

Tony however, couldn't wait to get to his last class and get to his homework.  
It was quite a lot that he had to finish, but he didn't mind. It would keep him occupied and distracted from his heart until had to get some kind of sleep.

As soon as it was time, he walked with Bruce to their next location and while they did, they crossed the campus to grab a coffee for Bruce. Tony claimed that he was the worst on coffee and got himself a chocolate milkshake. 

When they were almost by their next class, they dumped the empty cups in a bin, when Tony's phone buzzed. 

A message from Pepper.

Care to grab something after your classes?

Tony smiled at the message but had to decline, thinking about the pile of work he had

Sorry Pep, got a lot of homework, maybe tomorrow 

He added a sad emoji and looked up to see that Bruce already entered the classroom and he quickly walked after his friend, almost bumping into Stephen.

"Careful where you walk Stark."

Stephen's pissed off voice made Tony look up to the boy who was at least head bigger than him and apologized and walked quickly into the classroom to take a seat besides Bruce.

The class itself wasn’t particularly interesting, but it was important because it was one of their defining grades.   
Tony yawned at some point, getting a soft elbow from Bruce, who have him a warning look.  
Tony rolled his eyes, but returned his focus to the rather boring documentary about technology the second World War.

He had watched it a thousand times when he was younger and to make the time go faster, he mouthed along with the narrator.

As soon as they could leave, Tony rushed to his dorm and pulled out his homework, working off a list he made with what had to be done when. It would allow him to keep this in control and it was easier this way.

He had been working on a few subjects for a while when he heard someone knocking on his door. For a moment he thought it was Pepper, but then remembered she was out with Jane and Gamora for dinner, and she always knocked once before just walking in, so it couldn’t be her.  
With a groan he got up from his bed and opened the door, revealing Stephen with a backpack. But not in his usual bad boy outfit. He wore red plaid with a pair of light-blue jeans, which suited him surprisingly good.

“What are you doing here?” Tony asked a bit suspicious. He and Stephen weren’t friends and Tony wasn’t planning on becoming so.

Stephen shrugged and tilted his head a bit, reassembling the look of a begging puppy.  
Tony didn’t understand why he thought that. Was his head playing games with him? And what was Stephen even trying?

“We’re paired up for that project Stark, so I thought- maybe I could help you with anything? Get to know each other a bit. It is easier working together if you know the other for a bit.” His head tilted further to the side and Tony thought that if he looked like that any longer, he would melt into a puddle. Wait,what?

To surprised by the thoughts in his head and reasoning that he had some good arguments, he let Stephen in.  
Completely confused by his own mind he made himself a glass of water, while he let the other look around in his dorm.

“What are you working on?”

Stephen’s voice roughly brought him back to the right space and time. He shook his head, in the hope he could organize his thoughts. Damn, since when was his head such a mess? Why couldn’t he keep it just… Together, like other people?

In his hands, Stephen held a drawing of one of the inventions of his father he had taken secretly with him when he left the house.

“That’s nothing, just an old drawing of my father,” he sighed at the memories that came back when he said it. “Nothing special.”

“I see.”

Stephen turned around and saw Tony’s list with homework. He had checked of a few subjects on the list and there were written at least six more subjects.

“How were you planning on getting that all done?”

Stephen was a bit concerned now. Tony had always appeared to be a strong boy without really much problems, but now he looked better a the guy, that might have been a illusion he would die for if it meant he could keep it up, making Stephen take another look at the boy who’s dorm he had entered.

At first glance his clothes looked clean, but if you paid attention to them, they were not to clean at all. His hair was a mess and clearly not on purpose. It was like he had woken up like that.

A water bottle that was clearly worn out already, was leaning against a small pile of books, having lost its ability to stand on its own. 

He came to the conclusion that Tony and his dorm looked like that of an average student who could get by just enough to stay in college.

“You done with deducing ‘Sherlock’?” Tony’s voice cut through his thoughts and he realized he had been staring and turned bright red.

“Ye-yeah.”

Stephen get your shit together, he thought by himself. It’s just Tony.

And that was the whole problem. It was Tony.

“Yo-you need help with your homework?” Stephen stuttered, becoming even redder than he was before. He really needed to get it together if he wanted to make things work between them.

Tony looked as if he saw water burn. 

Well done, now he wants for sure to stay away from you. He was ready to turn to the door when Tony answered him with a tired sigh.

“Why not. We’re paired up anyway for that science project, you are right, we might as well get to know each other.”

Stephen nodded, still not sure about why he stuttered suddenly so much and why he felt in some way attracted to Tony.

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Time went by quicker than either of them thought it would and by the time Stephen looked at the clock on Tony’s nightstand it was already past midnight.

He watched Tony finish his last sentence and felt the corners of his lips teasingly go upwards.

He loved this sight and felt some butterflies in his stomach. A feeling he hated yet at the same time adored.

By the time Tony looked up he was smiling like an idiot and Tony being Tony couldn’t let it to comment on it.

“What’s it Strange, someone on your mind?”

Stephen snapped out of his thoughts about the butterflies in his stomach and turned bright red when he realized what Tony said.

“Wha-wh-what? No… not really.”

Real smooth Stephen, he won’t believe you for a second when you stammer like that.

Tony made a face that confirmed his thoughts, he didn’t believe Stephen for a single second.

“You look cute when you’re flustered,” Tony said teasing, a smug grin on his face to hide how stupid he felt for saying that but it grew bigger when he saw that Stephen’s face had become even more red than it already was.  
Out of nervousness, Stephen scratched his neck and tried to say something, but all he did was stuttering.

You have it bad. One comment of him and you’re completely floored. Where are your wits?

Tony saved him from himself by cutting the conversation, saying it was maybe a good idea for both of them to call it a night and go to sleep.  
While he said that he yawned and Stephen couldn’t help it to smile at the sight. He agreed with a hum, not allowing himself to say another word, afraid that he would look too much like an idiot if he did. And the last thing he wanted was to look stupid in front of Tony.

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